The CEO's Obsession

3. Showdown in the cafeteria

Tamra -

I lean back in my chair with a sigh. Sometimes I can't even with the bullshit I have to deal with on a regular basis in IT. Sure, there's some big stuff that we do, like bug fixes and some major deployments to keep things neat and tidy for Decker & Clark, but then there's Susan from accounting. Oh Susan. With her bowl cut hairdo and giant serial killer glasses, Susan looks like she stepped right out of the 80s. And she doubles down on that by wearing boxy suit jackets with her sneakers. I would adore her based on her determination to keep the decade of giant hair and questionable fashion alive alone, if she wasn't so clueless with technology and mean about it.

I re-read her last email. "But Tamra, I just don't understand why I can't login to my account. You said you would fix it!!! I've emailed you multiple times today and it still isn't working!!!" Ugh. Not multiple exclamation points. Just as bad as all caps, which was the universal non-spoken code for, I'd be yelling at you if we were doing this in person, bitch.

I feel a presence hovering behind me and I let my head fall back dejectedly. I stare up into Mark's kind baby blues.

"Susan?" He pats my forehead.

"Susan," I agree, blowing a puff of air to get my bangs out of my eyes.

"That's what you get for your treachery last night!" Ryan singsongs from his desk, without even bothering to look up from his screen. His dark brown hair falls messily across his forehead, desperately needing a cut. But I won't lie, it does draw attention to his honey colored eyes, which I've seen quite a few of the ladies and some guys in the building stare dreamily into as he tries to educate them about updating their browsers. I've also seen them take sneaky glances at his butt too, but I can't blame them. That boy does have a pretty spectacular rear end for some reason.

"Treachery!" I stand up so fast the chair slides back and hits Mark right in the hip.

"Watch it!" Mark hops away, rubbing his hip. "A few centimeters to the left and no more kids for me."

"Sorry Mark," I say distracted. I march over to Ryan's desk and point my finger right into his smug face. "You were the one who decided to go traipsing into a cave filled with liches, and then..."

"And you were the one who ditched us when we needed your archery skills..."

"Because I was the only one smart enough to not want to go in the cave in the first place..."

"We had to go into the cave to get the key to bring back to the king..."

"There were other ways of getting the goddamn key..."

"Enough please," Thomas stands up and pushes Ryan and I away from each other with a giant palm on each of our foreheads. We're both breathing heavily and Ryan's cheeks and nose are red. D&D makes us quite feisty.

 "We'll continue on with our quest tonight so there's no reason for you two to be arguing. And I hope we don't have to hear you two arguing for ANOTHER hour tonight about whose fault it was that most of us are now stuck in a cave with a bunch of liches." Thomas gives me a level look and I feel the teeny, tiniest bit of shame. "Why don't you go get some lunch and cool down," he suggests to me, heading back to this desk.

"Fine," I stomp over to my desk and grab my wallet so I can pick up something from the cafeteria, "but if this is the thanks I get for being intelligent, then we'll see if you get any help from me tonight."

"I can get out of that cave myself, blindfolded and with my hands tied." Ryan flips me off, his attention back on his monitor. "Pick me up a cookie or something while you're there."